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Two families saved in remarkable twist of fate

Many families are good friends, but few have a special bond like the Barretts and O' Regans of Nottinghamshire.

For in a remarkable twist of fate, two generations of the Barrett family have had their lives saved by two generations of the O' Regan family.

George Barrett, 67, from Ollerton, is only here today because of the quick-thinking actions of Greg O' Regan, who works at his local leisure centre.

Greg O' Regan Credit: ITV Central

The pensioner was working out in the gym, when he suffered a heart attack and collapsed. Mr O'Regan was first on the scene and started performing chest compressions on Mr Barrett, while his colleague Owen Nicks used a defibrillator.

Together the two staff members kept him alive until paramedics arrived.

Mr O' Regan told ITV Central:

"It was really serious. He was blue to the face, no pulse, no heart reading or anything. Basically I just did all my natural checks, started all my CPR - luckily within a couple of minutes, Owen came down with a defib, and the first responder was here within 14 minutes, so we can't complain at that."

But bizarrely, it's not the first time that a member of the O' Regan family has saved the life of a member of the Barrett family. In 1991, George Barrett's grand-daughter, Kirsty - who was only a young girl, wandered off from a house in Ollerton where she was playing and fell into a nearby river.

Shaun O'Regan with Greg O'Regan Credit: Family photo

She was found by Greg O' Regan's father Shaun, who hauled out her out and gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.